re:Another Side
by ShinseiKakumei
Summary: Xirena -a Nobody who wields the power of Dreams - is a peppy new addition to the Organization. Coming in at Number IX, she was the first member to be recruited for quite some time. She comes with no memories, but instead an eagerness to learn what it's like to be alive, yet dark secrets lie in the shadows The days of innocent laughter and fun with friends won't last forever.
1. PrologueThe Ending

Re:Another Side

**Prologue: The Ending**

_And I feel the fear in me__  
__And I don't wanna fall asleep_

She feels nothing but pain, in her physical being and in her heart, as her body curls up on the hard ground she's fallen to. She can't feel the coldness of the stone structure she was on she couldn't feel the grainy texture nor the sensation of her clothes against her skin... and her eyes provided nothing more than a distorted window to the outside world for her broken mind. The girl's ears, however, seemed to be the most lucid of all her sensory organs. She heard footsteps slowly walking away from her, so slow she swore that time was slowing down with each passing second. Her blurred vision could only make out a black blob in the shape of a man with his back turned to her as he abandoned her body.

Who was that man?

Why is he just leaving me here?

Her thoughts were an unsorted mess as she struggled to stay anchored in reality. She could sense the other side that she was being dragged towards and, while it wasn't clear how, she knew it was a place that she didn't want to be. Her mind clawed and scratched to stay with it, but when her ears picked up the only words she could recall that man saying, her grip on the real world loosened to it's breaking point.

"That should take care of it." His gruff voice spoke.

It was ambiguous, but that's what made it so terrible. The girl not knowing what he meant coupled with her painfully dismayed state of being was pushing her towards the end. She wanted this situation to make sense, but at this point that was just laughably unrealistic. Unable to stay conscious for even a second longer, her eyes sharply fell shut and her body went from tense to limp on the flat terrain she was laid up on.

–

A chillingly blank room was the stage set for this story. The walls, floors and ceiling were all a dull gray, and the few pieces of furniture all followed the same color scheme and had simplistic designs. On the bed, however, was a splash of color in the form of a girl. Her rosy skin, violet hued hair and black coat stood out brilliantly against the backdrop of monochrome. Her eyes were softly shut as she laid flat on her back, presumably sleeping, but none could be too sure yet.

"Did you bring us back a corpse, Xigbar?"

Beside the girl's bed were three men, all wearing the same black attire that the sleeping lady was clad in. The man who spoke had a sour look on his face, which had a deep "X" scar in the center of his features. His blue hair was long and spiky at the top; he wore his hair with some of the lengthy part swept over the front of his shoulders.

"She's just having a deep snooze." The man he addressed – Xigbar – responded dismissively, waving his hand limply to accent his words. His tone then grew more serious, "She'll get up eventually. Just hold your damn horses."

The blue haired man scowled at him, but Xigbar was unfazed. He crossed his lanky arms over his broad chest and smirked devilishly at the other. Xigbar had a scar too, albeit his was more conventional in it's appearance: a jagged mark starting at his jaw and trailing up his hollow cheek and ending at a safe enough distance away from his eye; which was another thing of note, as he only had one of them. The presumably missing or non-functional one was covered in a basic black eyepatch. Like the other man, his hair was long. However, Xigbar's gray streaked hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail. These two had exactly one immediately visible thing in common physically though... they both had eyes the color of gold.

Between them though was a man that practically dwarfed the two. He as well had gold eyes, but his dark skin was untouched by scars or blemishes. Silver spiky hair fell around his shoulders, with some stands framing his chiseled face. This man hadn't said a word and his face was unmoving as he stared down at the girl in her slumber.

"Mm..."

A small, hushed sound escaped from her and all eyes were fully focused onto her face. Her facial muscles twitched and her purple head lolled to the side, facing away from her observers. She groaned again, but louder and deeper this time, suggesting that waking herself up was a daunting task. She wrinkled her nose and squinted her still-closed eyes in discomfort before they slowly opened up for the first time. Or at least, the first time as far as anyone knew...

"Seeeee I told you!" Xigbar sneered smugly and victoriously at the blue haired man, "Well just look at the time! I'm late for my date with the craps table at Lucky Luxord's!"

The blue haired man's mouth dropped open, a roaring shout ready to pierce the air directed at Xigbar was unexpectedly quieted by the tallest man. He raised one of his large arms up as a sign for the other man to remain silent, and the man obliged.

"Leave us." He spoke in an effortlessly commanding voice.

The blue haired man looked to him, hesitant to go, but he silently bent to the commander's will and took his leave.

The girl felt groggy and woozy, almost as if the room was spinning. She was hardly able to focus on anything those three were saying at all, however her attention was caught when the tall man spoke directly to her in the same dry yet powerful as he did before.

"You seek answers." He murmured, eyes narrowing, "I can give you purpose."

"Ohh..." The girl groaned, weakly smiling stupidly, "Ok."

**Chapter I: Dancing on Raindrops**

_When I turn into someone else  
I know that it can't be beat _

The young girl sat on the edge of her bed, hands folded neatly in her lap. Her expression was focused as she tried to remember everything that her commander had told her the night prior.

"_Number IX. Xirena." He said deeply, "The Dancer of Dreams."_

"_That sure is a nice name..." Xirena smiled, sitting up in her bed now, "But I'm not sure where I am or even who I am. Do you know?"_

"_You are a Nobody and have been recruited into Organization XIII, and I am it's leader: Xemnas." The man continued, his gold eyes looking down on her at a sharp angle as he didn't bother to lower his head to address her at all._

"_Oh ok!" Xirena replied with a peppy grin._

_ Xemnas remained expressionless, but kept his eyes locked on her as long as he could as he turned away from her._

"_Tomorrow morning you will report to the round room where you will be formally introduced to the rest of the members." He declared._

_ The imposing figure didn't wait for a response before he took his leave, but how he did it was very strange. A pillar of what could only be described as darkness appeared in front of him with no warning, causing Xirena to yelp as she had never witnessed this sort of phenomenon before (that she could remember anyway). While she was in her stupor, the silver haired man walked forward with long strides and entered the darkness... disappearing into it. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the dark portal vanished into nothingness. Xirena couldn't stop staring at the spot where it had appeared, her eyes wide with wary curiosity._

Still sitting on her bed she took in a deep breath, holding for not even a second before sharply exhaling.

"My name is Xirena." She said to herself.

Xirena had been repeating this phrase to herself since she had woken up. It wasn't that she was afraid of forgetting it, but the more she heard herself say it out loud it made it more real with each utterance; and this new "life" that was thrust upon her was the exact opposite: unreal. Xirena received no explanation about what a Nobody specifically _is_ or what the Organization even _does_ yet, and she worried she never would.

The MOST bewildering thing though, was that she remembered nothing of who she was before she woke up in the very bed she was seated on now. Try as she might, Xirena couldn't even find the tiniest fragment of a memory in her head... No precious memories of warmth and delight, none of bittersweet good-byes and none of pain nor sadness either. This lacking in her soul left her confused on how to feel, or maybe she didn't know how to feel about _anything_ happening around her in that moment.

Xirena felt compelled to explore though. She glanced around the room as she slowly rose to her feet, which were clad in knee-high black boots; but the boots were hardly visible under the thick black coat she wore. It's what all the others she had met wore too. All black... coats, gloves, pants, shirts, shoes and every other garment in their wardrobe. The black against her alabaster white skin was quite a noticeable contrast, but hardly what would catch an onlookers attention the most upon first glance. Mingling with highly pigmented pink lips and lightly rosy cheeks were absurd entries to her color palette. Xirena's eyes were a vibrant red like an expertly cut ruby laid out in the sun, catching the light and glittering brilliantly. Her hair was cut into a short bob with swooping side bangs that parted from right to left. Her short mane of hair was equally as note-worthy as her eyes... It was purple, akin to a freshly bloomed orchid in the spring.

She wandered to the adjacent right wall where a desk and chair was situated. On the top of the desk was a notebook with the word "journal" printed on the cover, with a pen beside it. On it's other side was the only item that wasn't monochrome in the entire room: a star shaped charm made of glass, colored purple as if to match her hair. Before Xemnas had left her alone the night before, he noted that "the thing on her desk" was the only thing she had on her when she was found. But, just as expected, Xirena had no idea what it was or what significance – if any – it held. She knew one thing for sure though: it was quite pretty.

She picked it up carefully with one hand and raised it to eye level. It felt fragile, like it would surely shatter if dropped or even just grasped too tightly. Xirena felt a pang in her chest when she thought about the possibility of this trinket breaking, a stab of unpleasant feelings that was completely inexplicable. Xirena, wishing to forget those baseless woes, placed the star back on the desk – careful not to put it near any edges – and continued exploring her room. There was of course the bed and a dresser to keep all her garments in, otherwise the "living" area was bare. There was a small bathroom attached to the room with all the necessary items within, and of course it had the same monochromatic color scheme as the rest of the room. Xirena found it rather boring.

A knock came at Xirena's door suddenly, startling her and shocking her out of her black and white hypnosis.

"Coming!" She called, quickly shuffling to the door that lead out into the rest of the building.

With great enthusiasm she grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, eager to see who had come to visit her. She thought it might be one of the three men that hovered over her the other night because she didn't entertain the idea that anyone else could be there, despite Xemnas telling her she was the ninth member of their organization. This was just one of many details that she found herself forgetful of. With a sweet smile she flung her door open – so excited she was practically shivering with anticipation. The person on the other side, however, didn't seem to share even half of her excitement. It was a man, but none of the ones she had already met. His face looked younger than the others, indicating he was probably closer to her own age range. His skin was flawless and a similar tone to hers with cheekbones that sat high on his face, adding handsome definition to his already attractive form. Stunning green eyes stared down at her, unimpressed with what he saw; his displeasure was further shown by his pursed lips that appeared glossy and pinker than one would expect a man's lips to be. Like Xirena, he also sported an unnatural – for his assumed age – hair color: white.

"Like, you can stop staring now." He said in a voice that had a feminine affectation.

"Huh?" Xirena asked, not realizing she had been gawking at him with her mouth agape.

"I know you were too enchanted by my hotness to speak, girl, it's okay. I get that a lot." He replied, "But I don't swing your way so don't get your hopes up, hon."

Xirena was baffled by this guy. He talked WAY differently than the other men did, and what did he mean by "swinging" anyway? Xirena's expression had morphed from excitement to strained as he spoke, trying to figure out what he was saying.

"I don't... understand..." She admitted quietly.

"Ugh!" He groaned, sounding far more dramatic than necessary, "I KNEW this would be terrible, I just KNEW it. Just because I'm the most in touch with my feminine side here doesn't mean I would automatically get along with a girl. That was SUCH a rude assumption for that homophobic buzzkill to make... I'm going to report that to Xemnas, forcing stereotypes about gays isn't gonna fly with me honey-pie and he deserves to face the consequences for his discrimination. Like, why else would he have chosen me to come get you? He didn't have to say it blatantly but I could tell he was thinking it. 'Send Rex to get the girl! He's gay so they'll get along great!' Newsflash scar-face: it doesn't work like that. I have STANDARDS just like any other person. Ugh. The _nerve_."

With his tirade at an end, he crossed his arms tightly and his face grew red from his emotional outburst. Xirena blinked and had nothing to say, he had said WAY too many words she didn't know to form a coherent thought to reply with. Thankfully he loved the sound of his own voice and continued the mostly one-sided conversation.

"Whatever." He sighed sharply, "Just whatever... I'm Rexvir, but just call me Rex, uh'kay?"

"Oh ok." Xirena nodded, "I'm Xirena!"

"_Fascinating._" He sarcastically replied, his words so quick that he almost spoke over her. Rex wasn't keen on this idle chit chat and wanted to get down to business so he could get back to his life, "We're going to a meeting so you can like, meet all the others here or whatever. Not that anyone else but _me_ matters of course."

"Oh... you must be very important!" Xirena said, enchanted by his inflated sense of self worth.

Rex's sour expression curled up into one of smug satisfaction once she made that comment. If anyone were likely to believe Rex's lies more than Rex himself, it would be Xirena, but only because she didn't know any better. Thanks to her compliment he was having second thoughts about this dim girl.

"Y'know maybe you're not so bad after all..." He murmured to himself.

–

Xirena stood on the threshold of a bright white room. She could see from her point that it was circular, which seemed a little odd since all the other rooms she'd seen had been composed of flat planes and sharp angles. From within she could hear Xemnas' deep voice echoing through the round room and out into the dimly lit hall where she merely observed. She couldn't see anyone though, just a round platform in the center of the room circled by tall structures – which were also shades of white and gray of course.

Then, her calling came.

"Number IX."

Xirena knew that number! It was HER number and she _remembered_ that it was hers. Her feet started moving faster than her brain, leading her entrance to be a rather ungraceful sight. She shuffled in awkwardly, coming into full view of the room and slowly looking around. The tall structures turned out to be thrones, and peculiarly they were all of different height. She already knew four of the faces in the room, but there were three others present as well. What was odder than that was that there was more than just one empty seat. Did others exist here but just were late to the meeting? Were they expecting more people after herself? Xirena had no idea, and thinking about it was a little overwhelming. Narrowly avoiding falling on her face she came to a halt in the center of the platform, sight cast upward to see her superior.

Xigbar, the man with the long ponytail and the eyepatch, watched on with a hidden joy. He wanted to laugh loud and hard but he knew that would arouse suspicion – which he surely could talk his way out, but he'd rather not get his time wasted by such an ordeal – so he settled for a devilish grin. Even if he did let out just a small chuckle it wouldn't be noticed, at least not enough to cause any eyebrows to be raised. But no, he remained a silent figure as he watched the initiation of Number IX.


	2. Color Within A Flame

**Chapter II: Color Within A Flame**

_Let's tie words  
'Cause they amount to nothing  
Play it down  
Pretend you can't take what you've found  
But you found me _

A flash of red sluggishly traversed the gray halls of The Castle That Never Was. If his gait – which rivaled the speed of molasses – wasn't indicative enough of of how he was feeling, a look at his long face offered further insight. Dark circles sat under vivid green eyes, and just a short distance below his badges of exhaustion were purple reverse tear drop markings on both his cheeks. His lanky frame was clad from head to toe in black – the exact same "uniform" that the other Nobodies wore. The red head walked hunched over as he headed for his room, where he planned to go right to sleep, despite it not being late at night at all.

But first, he had to report back.

This particular Nobody was "lucky" enough to get sent off on secret missions from time to time that spanned over days, weeks at worst, and that evening he has just returned from one of those extended missions. Even though he wanted to rest so badly, he knew he'd get chewed out the next morning if he didn't check back in immediately upon return – sacrificing a few moments of rest was worth it when compared to the alternative. He traveled to where the one who doled out missions could usually be found: a large lounge where an entire wall was just a huge window displaying the dark world surrounding the castle. It wasn't much of a view. In this room were several couches and low-rising tables, along with a large screen tv. When he arrived he saw a few of his coworkers lounging about as usual, but his target was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh." He heard someone say behind him in a catty voice.

The man looked over his shoulder and he could just make our the figure of Rex sitting on a couch behind him. He was leaning towards something, or someone rather, just out of his sight though. Curious to know what the self proclaimed queen was up to, he turned fully to look at Rex, ready to go over and call him out on talking shit – because what else would Rex be doing?

To no surprise Rex was whispering in the ear of a fellow Nobody, so he DEFINITELY was talking shit, and wasn't covert about it at all. But what left him unable to move forward and tell him to shut up was who he was talking to... a new member. A girl. She was staring curiously in his direction, but not at him, it was more like she was looking _through_ him as if he wasn't even there. This unexpected development left him frozen and speechless, all tensed up too since he was readying himself to dish out some nasty words right back to Rex.

"That one's Axel." Rex whispered to Xirena, who blinked her widened eyes as she absorbed Rex's words like a sponge, "You can't hang out with him, he's a lazy loser asshole."

"Oh ok." Xirena replied, as Rex pulled away. He turned to look at Axel and smiled like the little catty bitch he was.

Rex had been going over the social structure of the Organization with her after work that evening. Rex held nothing back in his descriptors of his coworkers, trusting that the dopey Xirena could keep his secrets... or he just was banking on the probability that she would forget it all in ten minutes anyway since he had no gauge of her status as a confidant. However, after all was said and done with his social structure explanation, Xirena was left a bit confused. Being always open to asking when she didn't understand certain things, she quickly leaned in close to Rex and tugged on his sleeve with exaggerated urgency. Rex rolled his eyes.

"Stop that, you're being a pest." He said, perhaps more brutally than he should have.

But Xirena in her social and mental ineptitude didn't register the irritated tone in his voice. She just swiftly and graciously obliged him in his request for her to stop "being a pest." Xirena then folded her hands neatly in her lap.

"Sorry Rex! But um..." She started, trailing off and glancing away, "You said I shouldn't hang out with _anybody_." She finished after a moment of consideration. _Surely_ he had a reason for telling her this, but she could not figure it out to save her life. Wasn't being with others considered good and actively encouraged?

Rex sighed, his vision falling down to his hands – his nails specifically. He mentally noted that he could use a touch up on his manicure.

"Yes hon I know." Rex replied without missing a beat, or even looking up from his womanly hands, "That's because I'm the only friend you'll ever need here. You should be thanking me, really."

Xirena drew back out of Rex's personal space, looking back in Axel's direction yet still not noticing him. She was too trapped in the confusion that Rex had left her in to really notice _anything_ at that point. Axel himself had been staring the whole time, trying to figure out what Rex was saying about him; and at the same time wondering just when this girl even got here, her name, all that sort of stuff. He was torn out of his daze when he heard Rex say, quite loudly...

"See? He's staring at us like a mega creeper."

It was at that point Xirena noticed she had been looking his way too, her blank expression replaced with her usual sweet smile. With this realization, she thrust her entire arm into the air and waved it enthusiastically – as if Axel was hundreds of feet away and was trying to get his attention, rather than just give a simple "hello" gesture. Rex's mouth dropped open and he nudged Xirena roughly for disobeying his very clear instructions on socializing, causing her to immediately drop her arm, yet her smile remained. All this happening in such a short period of time startled Axel, and his feet were determined to carry him out of the situation as fast as possible – which made for a bit of a sudden, awkward exit. He quickly turned and made for the residential hall so he could get into his room, totally disregarding the ritual of checking in. But as he approached his room, "fortune" appeared to be in his favor. Walking in his direction was the stern looking man with long blue hair and glittering gold eyes, who stopped once he saw Axel heading his way.

"You've returned." He said as Axel slowly approached him.

"Yeah, yeah." Axel replied dismissively, "I'm back. Found nothing. Big whoop."

He spoke quickly and tried to get into his room without doing any more talking, but blue hair wasn't having that. He blocked the path to Axel's door, eyes narrowing.

"That's all you have to report?" He said in a low, dangerous voice.

"Yes, _dad._" Axel replied, sneering through his sarcasm. He wasn't exactly pleasant when he was tired.

"Fine then." His counterpart replied snidely as he stepped aside, "I will pass your _great wealth_ of information onto Lord Xemnas."

"Fantastic." Axel answered, flatly and simply.

"Don't go thinking you're off the hook, Axel." The other continued, "You'll be sent back again until you find it."

Axel was beyond listening to him and merely grunted in his continued efforts to dismiss him. The man scowled at Axel and decided to take his leave – he had better things to do than bicker with the red head. Axel was quite content with their interaction ending there, but then he remembered the girl. A split second war in his mind raged on whether to keep up the conversation and ask about her, or just let it go and wait.

"...Yo, Saix." He said, almost immediately regretting his choice and slapping himself mentally.

Saix paused and turned his head to look back at Axel, which was all the acknowledgment he was willing to give for him to go on.

"What's the story on the new girl?" Axel continued. He's gone this far, might as well follow through, right?

Now Saix was the one in regret. There was nothing worth talking about with her given what he knew. But, he relented...

"Xigbar found her a few days ago," Saix answered simply, "Number IX. Xirena."

Axel raised a single eyebrow but didn't dare vocally challenge him, but surely he HAD to know more... Before he could probe further, Axel thought to himself that this was good enough for now. At least he knew her name. He could live with that for now.

"Right..." Axel responded.

He knew at this point that is wasn't worth asking Saix anymore about the subject. A tense silence fell between the two scowling men, ended by a grunt from Saix as he turned and began to leave. Axel heaved a sigh of relief, it was such a hassle having the most basic of conversations with Saix at times. He spun around and leaned his back up against his door, running one of his big, clumsy hands through his spiky red locks. Axel sat there for a moment, frozen in place with his eyes closed and hand in his hair – he thought he could fall asleep right then and there.

"Hi!"

Axel jumped and his eyes flew open. Standing there in front of him was the object of his curiosity, Xirena, smiling possibly the most sweetly dopey smile he'd ever seen. When did she even get there? How much of his conversation with Saix could she have heard? How didn't he hear her approach? The more he thought about it, the less it mattered; so he did the best thing he could do and let it go. Instead, he put his limited focus on the girl in front of him, going over her visuals. Xirena was considerably shorter than himself, which wasn't a surprise considering his towering height (which was pretty unusual even among his gender). Her bright, lively eyes were a similar color to his vibrant red hair, and they also even had the color purple in common to an extent: her hair and his facial tattoos.

"Hey..." He drawled tiredly, flashing the best smile he could manage.

"You're name's Axel, right?" Xirena asked, the smile never fading from her full, pink lips. She was practically bouncing with excitement.

"Yep, it sure is." He affirmed with a nod. He crossed his arms over his broad chest casually, "And I hear your name is Xirena?"

"Mhmm!" She hummed, nodding her head vigorously.

Her enthusiasm was a little intense for his current state of being, but she seemed nice. Harmless at the _very_ least, and maybe even a little cute.

"I saw you with Rex..." Axel began, voice trailing off. He wasn't sure how to continue his thought though since he had nothing positive or even neutral to say about Rexvir in that very moment. With his silence lingering, Xirena took this as her cue to keep talking.

"Yeah! Rex is nice. He told me about you. He said you're a 'lazy loser asshole'" Xirena spoke enthusiastically, not realizing those words were negative ones. She certainly wasted no time in selling Rex out though, unaware that what he had said was supposed to remain between them. She then crinkled her nose in confusion and added, "…whatever that means."

Axel's crooked smile faded.

"That's what he said, eh?" He asked dryly. Xirena nodded again.

"He also said I can't hang out with you but that's okay because you look sleepy anyway."

What a strange thing to say. Was she being suggestive and hinting that she'd like to hang out in the future and burying it in a cute comment? No-one would listen to Rex, right? Little did he know, she was absolutely serious in what she just said, and in no way had ulterior motives hidden between the lines. It did seem like she took Rex's instructions as a one time thing that only applied to that night though, but perhaps that was the best conclusion she could come up with for herself. No matter how you looked at it, she sounded kind of absurd... and absurd as she sounded, a smile found it's way back to Axel's face, allowing a small chuckle to escape from him.

"Don't worry about it... and, don't listen to everything Rex says. Or anything he says at all, really." He advised, "But I _am_ tired, you're right about that. I gotta hit the hay."

"Oh ok." Xirena responded. She wasn't exactly sure what this phrase meant or what it had to do with being tired though.

"I'll see you around." He said.

Xirena nodded at him and he gave her a farewell wave before turning his back to her and entering his room. It was dark, but he didn't bother to switch on the lights since he planned to go straight to bed anyway. The tall man hurried over to his bed and collapsed flat on his back, limbs sprawled out around him. His eyes immediately fell shut, but when they did Axel didn't see boring old darkness behind his eyelids, but the imprinted image of the girl he was just talking to. It wasn't all that weird to think about, since it hadn't even been thirty seconds since he saw her. Axel began to tidy up his position, raising his head to put his hands behind them.

Before Xirena, number IX, came Axel and Saix – VIII and VII respectfully. It had been quite some time since the pair had joined too, so long that the thought of someone new showing up never crossed anyone's minds anymore. On top of the initial shock, her being the first female member was jarring too. It was almost odd, in a way.

"She doesn't seem to be all there in the head but..." Axel spoke to himself, "She seems... nice. Yeah. Nice..."

Sleep began to take him as his words trailed off into silence. Once his last word was out, Axel happily surrendered to slumber.


	3. Life Illuminated

**Chapter III: Life Illuminated**

_You wait for a silence**  
**I wait for a word**  
**Lying next to your frame**  
**Girl unobserved_

_You change your position**  
**And you're changing me**  
**Casting these shadows**  
**Where they shouldn't be_

Another day rose upon the castle. Another _work_ day... but in truth, every day was a work day. Never a day off, not under the Saix regime. The gray area was about as lively as a funeral for a distant family member, and in truth, that was just how Saix liked it. Calm, quiet... almost uncomfortably so for everyone else. The man himself stood in front of the wide window, looking down at his clipboard as Axel stood in front of him. Saix's usually dulled expression had started to shift into a look he isn't often seen wearing, surely not publicly anyway – who knows what kind of faces he pulled when scheming off on his own. He smiled devilishly as he looked up at Axel, who didn't find the same amusement that Saix had.

"Something funny?" Axel asked, crossing his arms casually. Saix huffed.

"You're going with the new one today." He sneered.

Axel's emerald eyes narrowed with confusion; he failed to see what was so funny about that, but then again Saix wasn't a master comedian so there was probably some kind of malicious intent behind that smug grin. He saw Saix's eyes flick over his shoulder – his smile slowly vanishing once he spotted what had grabbed his attention. Axel half turned and saw that Xirena, accompanied by Rex, had entered the gray area. Well, she seemed to be following him in all truthfulness... Though it wasn't clear what he was saying due to how far away Axel was from them, Rex was chatting endlessly. His mouth wouldn't stop moving even for one second, not giving a chance for Xirena to speak at all. Strangely enough, she didn't seem bothered – In fact she had a look of captivation on her face the whole time Rex spoke. Every so often she would nod her head, or even laugh a tiny bit, but it was clear she had no weight in the "conversation." Going with Xirena was Saix's idea of a joke apparently.

Without thinking, Axel fully turned and started striding over towards them. He had to tell her they'd be together that day, and someone had to rescue her from Rex's incessant babbling – and he was in the perfect position to do just that.

"Yo!" He said brightly when he reached them.

"Um, excuse me?" Rex snapped venomously, quickly dropping out of what he had been previously talking about to address Axel, "I believe _I_ was talking, and when _I_ talk-"

"Hi Axel!" Xirena cut him off, which no-one anticipated.

Rex's hand flew to his chest dramatically and his face had _the most_ scandalized expression you could imagine painted on it. Being talked over isn't fun, true, but Rex always has to make such a fuss about the most minor things. You could even say he deserved it based on how he himself speaks rudely at times. In the moment of silence that followed he saw fit to make his displeasure known properly. With mouth agape and a dainty hand raised, ready to accent every word he said as he spoke with it, he turned to Xirena.

"Hon. I was speaking. And I do _not_ appreciate being inter-"

"Hey." Axel greeted back. His disregard for Rex was only half deliberate, as he had mostly shifted his focus to Xirena at this point, "Good morning."

"I've had enough." Rex huffed under his breath, storming away from Axel and Xirena while loudly complaining about how he was being _so_ disrespected just then. No-one seemed to notice him though...

"Yeah... I guess it's a good one." Xirena replied, clearly unsure of herself.

Axel raised an eyebrow, considering what exactly he wanted to say back to that. Did she really not know what "good morning" meant? He looked away from her, unable to hold his gaze on her as he searched for a means to explain it.

"I... wasn't literally saying that the morning was good, really." He responded awkwardly, eyes traveling everywhere but back to her. It wasn't that it was especially difficult, per se, but it was such an unexpected reaction that it caught him completely off-guard. Soon enough though, he focused himself and looked at her straight once more, speaking with confidence, "It's what people say to greet each other in the morning."

"Oh..." Xirena said quietly.

"No-one's said good morning to you before...?" Axel probed incredulously.

"No, not really." Xirena admitted, shaking her head from side to side, "Rex never says stuff like that. He just starts talking about himself right away."

"Hmm. No surprise there." He muttered. Axel quickly shook his head, as if to rid himself of the thought, "Ehh try not to worry about it though... Rex is... unique."

"Oh ok!" Xirena responded happily.

"Yeah... Uh, anyway, Xirena... You're with me for work today." Axel said, having decided it was time to get down to business at that point. Xirena nodded her head, the thought of going to work not dampening her spirits at all.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Xirena asked from behind Axel.

The pair was traveling through a Dark Corridor with Axel leading the way, but Xirena stayed a mere few steps behind at all times. Axel glanced back at her.

"Agrabah." He answered shortly, "Not a great place. Too hot if you ask me."

Xirena hummed softly in response. He said these things to her as if she was supposed to know what they meant, similar to the "good morning" talk they had minutes earlier. Xirena had noticed one thing about Axel that stood out though: he was nicer than anyone else she'd met so far. Possibly the nicest, which says something about the company she keeps – Rex was too in love with himself to care even an ounce for anyone else, no less a girl, and all the other members seemed rather business oriented or aloof. But Axel was different, he was the first one to really talk to her... even if just a little bit. Xemnas was never around, Xigbar kept to himself a lot of the time, Rex was Rex, Vexen was always preoccupied with his scientific studies, Zexion always had his nose in a book and Saix never seems to speak unless it's business talk. Axel though, he felt far more approachable than the others – despite their interactions being limited to what they were at the present time.

Still, it made her feel happy.

"So!" Axel exclaimed, grabbing Xirena's attention abruptly, "Where'd you come from, Xirena? Saix wasn't feeling too talkative when I asked him about you the other night."

"You asked him about me?" Xirena asked, voice soft and airy, unintentionally disregarding his question.

"Yeah... I figured if anyone had the scoop on a new member it'd be him, y'know?" He continued.

"Oh ok." She responded, continuing to ignore his initial subject.

"So..." Axel repeated, "Where did a girl like you call home?"

Xirena furrowed her brow, puzzled by his question. The castle was her home, wasn't it? And as far as she knew it was Axel's home too, so there wasn't really room for misunderstanding about their living arrangements. Xirena's eyes glazed over in thought, her pace slowing down as she wracked her brain to find an answer for him. She had gotten so lost in herself that she didn't notice Axel had stopped and turned around right in front of her, until she bumped right into him. Her downcast face had collided with his chest – he was astoundingly tall, especially in comparison to Xirena – but she bounced back, quickly taking a step away from him. He looked down at her, eyes narrowed as he studied her expression. Her face gave away her building anxiety over this one simple question, and it didn't take the red head long to figure out what was wrong. He leaned in towards her a bit – so he could be as eye-to-eye as reasonably possible – and crossed his arms.

"You don't remember anything, do you?" He asked, sounding almost amused. Xirena shook her head, sending her violet hair bobbing around her face, which had grown red at this point, "Well, that's one detail Saix _conveniently_ left out..." He added, speaking less audibly.

Axel straightened out his towering posture again and dropped his arms back to his sides. He could tell, just by the look of her in that very moment, that this girl would be hopelessly lost without some degree of guidance. And as a supreme gentleman Axel just couldn't allow that happen! He extended one of his hands and clapped it onto her shoulder.

"Try not to worry about it right now. We'll save the personal chit-chat for after work, yeah?" He said reassuringly.

* * *

The dry air and sand-covered land of Agrabah was a jarring change from the comfort of the dark corridor they had just emerged from. Axel easily knew what to expect, as he'd been there many times before, but this was Xirena's first tour of the sunbathed desert world. The searing heat was made even worse by their uniforms... thick, black, long coats aren't ideal for hot weather. As soon as they stepped out Xirena's mouth fell open followed by the tip of her tongue sliding out too, exhaling deeply – the heat affecting her immediately and sending her into a daze – she almost looked like a dog.

"So, whattaya think?" Axel asked. He suppressed a laugh, seeing as Xirena's thoughts on Agrabah were on full display on her face.

"Too... hot..." She panted in response.

"You'll get used to it." Allowing his light laughter to slip out with his reply.

Behind the unsuspecting Xirena, a speck of black appeared and was moving flat against the ground. Axel didn't really take notice of it, until it rose up off the ground into a small black creature with bright yellow eyes and antennae. Axel saw it moving closer, clumsy yet speedy, and he had to act fast. Without putting too much thought into it, he pushed Xirena aside and stepped forward to face off with the shadow. It had jumped, ready to pounce on Xirena, and it certainly did not expect it's target to move; and before it had a chance to touch down on the sand, the sound of snapped fingers and the roar of fire filled the air. It didn't last long at all, and the creature made no sound of agony as it's body burst into flames. The strange creature left no trace behind once the flame fizzled out. Axel was holding his arm out straight in front of him, he being the one who summoned the fire with the snap of his fingers. Once the threat was gone he dropped his arm.

"Owch..."

Axel's head snapped to the left where Xirena was seated on the ground. In her heat-stricken daze she couldn't keep her balance after the push from Axel, she wasn't exactly super concerned with her fall though – what she had just seen was way more important to inquire about – What was that thing? And how did Axel do that...?

"Oh damn, I'm sorry!" Axel quickly apologized, hurrying over to her and offering a hand to help her up once he realized what he had done, "I didn't mean to knock you over."

"What was that thingy?" She inquired.

Xirena reached up for his hand and he grabbed her, lifting her up with no effort given his strength. Back on her feet, Xirena took her hand back as she examined herself. The fall may not have explicitly bothered her, but being all dirtied up was something of note to her now that she was back on her feet. She frowned at the sand that was still clinging to her dark coat and started her best efforts to shake and pat it all off. Axel didn't know how to help, so he just stood there awkwardly while watching the girl he just shoved over clean herself up. Her words from just moments ago rang back in head though, and answering her question would be better than just nothing.

"That was a Heartless." He began.

Xirena had gotten most of the sand off herself now and put her efforts to tidy up to rest, satisfied with her results.

"A Heartless?" Xirena asked, looking up to him.

"Yep." He nodded, "They're creatures of darkness that steal the hearts of the living. And when a person loses their heart..."

Axel's voice trailed off, looking off to the side at nothing in particular. Just away. In his silence, Xirena tilted her head curiously at him, an action that Axel would grow to be familiar with. She started to learn in the direction of his averted gaze, slowly creeping straight through his peripheral vision to directly in front of him again, or as close as she could get by leaning over. Axel hadn't been paying attention to what was going on around him and hadn't fully noticed Xirena peering up from under her violet bangs at him.

"Axel?" She asked.

Axel focused again, blinking a few times as if to banish that glazed over expression from his face.

"Heh, sorry about that. Guess I kinda zoned out there, huh?" He spoke, his tone light hearted despite his previous statement about those "Heartless" things...

"Oh ok." Xirena responded.

With their conversation dried up, the reality of their heated surroundings set in once more. Sweat was beading up on both of their faces, with Xirena's free-flowing strands of hair sticking to the side of her face when they touched. The heat of course wasn't letting up, and Axel was certain that the sun had fried his brain, because he could not for the life of him remember one very important fact.

"Eheh, funny story..." He began, a little sheepish over what he was about to say, "Saix never got to tell me what _exactly_ we were supposed to _do_ here today..."

With his awkward admission, a stale silence fell over the pair. Axel quickly looked away from her wide-eyed gaze, running his large hand through his hair and scratching at the back of his head while he tried to find a way to recover from this. The stare of Xirena made the situation painfully pressing.

Then, something came to him... He whipped his head back to look at her confidently, dropping his hand and resting it on his hip.

"I've got an idea of what we can do..." He said with a smile that was hard to decipher. Xirena's face faintly twitched to express her heightened curiosity and Axel obliged her by offering a glowing assurance, "Trust me, it'll be a lot funner than schleppin' around this place. I promise."

* * *

Xirena stood back as Axel was chatting with some man she didn't know behind a kiosk. They had gone somewhere cooler, much cooler, but not frigidly cold either. The temperature was what you might call "just right," with the streets empty and quiet... but in a pleasant, peaceful way – not a creepy way. This place was bathed in the warm light of a setting sun, but the buildings in the town square area where they stood were too tall to point out exactly where the sun was. Xirena held her hands down and clasped together, rocking back and forth on her heels as she took in her surroundings.

"Hey."

Xirena looked forward, only to be surprised by a bright blue object held right in front of her face.

"What's this?" Xirena asked, peering to the side of it to see Axel – who was holding another one in his other hand.

"Sea salt ice cream." He said, "I figured ice cream would be a good idea after Agrabah. And to say "sorry" again for pushing you around."

As he spoke, Xirena wordlessly took the ice cream from him. She didn't examine it for too long before taking the plunge and just taking a huge bite out of it without a second thought. The intense, sudden coldness shocked her mouth and made her teeth ache for a second; until the chunk of frozen confection rapidly melted away, a salty aftertaste present when most of the sweetness had faded. She had grimaced when she bit into it with her eager but inappropriate haste, leading to the unpleasant cold sensation.

"No good?" Axel asked.

He had studied her face as she tried it and worried that he screwed up his act of generosity when he saw her displeased face. He was suddenly nervous, but didn't want to have it be apparent in his features or voice. However, his nerves were relieved when her sour face disappeared as she shook her head. Surely this was good, yeah?

"No... it tastes really good!" She said. Axel could now say he was completely relieved.

"Yeah, it's my favorite flavor." He mentioned before adding in some solid advice to the girl, "Just don't try and eat it so fast like that. Got it memorized?"

Xirena nodded, already having taken a bite – a more appropriate one – once more, which left her unable to gracefully speak a response. But now what? There wasn't anywhere to sit and relax nearby, and standing around eating looked a little awkward. Axel mentally scanned a map of the town in his head – he was familiar enough with this place by now to know it like the back of his hand. He came to a solid idea, although he wasn't certain it was able to be... executed.

"Yo, come with me." He said, motioning for Xirena to follow him.

* * *

"Ahhh, yes I _am a genius_!" Axel celebrated.

His idea was on the daring side, which made the success feel all the more sweeter. He had thought, what would be the ideal place to really enjoy the view of Twilight Town? The town square was so enclosed, same for the sandlot – which had even less happening in it than the square – then there were the alleys... the hill seemed attractive, but there wasn't really great seating options there, plus it didn't offer a _great _view of much of anything. No, nothing could beat where he took himself and Xirena. See, there was a tram station in Twilight Town, which laid at the base of a clock tower. This clock tower oversaw the entirety of Twilight Town, and gave viewers a decent look at the red gold horizon where the sun permanently sat. He wasn't sure how accessible this place was, since it seemed like a bunch of terrible accidents waiting to happen... but there was no barriers or signs of any sort to deter any brave individuals who wanted to climb the tower and test their fear against the heights.

Xirena stood beside the cheerful ginger, smiling along with him. His personal glee was a bit infectious and spread through Xirena. He suddenly "disappeared" from her side view, but looking downwards quickly revealed that he had just taken a seat on the short ledge – perhaps too quickly than one should when atop such a high structure. Xirena followed suit, taking a much safer approach to sitting down than her mission partner. She sat beside him, not too close though.

"Check out that view, eh?" He said, nudging Xirena softly with his elbow, "Man, I'd thought about hanging out up here a few times but never really followed through..."

"I've never seen such a pretty sky!" Xirena marveled, eyes forward on the horizon. Even as she ate, the focus of her view remained on the setting sun.

"Alright, so..." Axel began, his tone grabbing Xirena's attention away from the sunset, "The way I see it, I was just supposed to casually show you the ropes in Agrabah... but who says we had to do it there? No-one's really told you what we do here, have they?"

"...No!" Xirena exclaimed, not with a tone of disdain, but excitement. The happiness that had permeated was thriving strong in her and had her hyped.

"Right! So, I'll "show you the ropes" by talking you through what the Organization does... Makes sense, right? Right," He went on, "And I'm curious to see what you _do_ remember of life before the Organization."

"Oh ok!" Xirena nodded vigorously.

She was eager to learn and could barely contain her excitement. She rocked slightly from side to side while Axel did some mental preparation to make sure he structured his explanation in the best way possible. That feeling she had earlier in the Dark Corridor returned to her, melting through her slowly and encompassing her in it's warmth. The happiness she felt that day was the most remarkable thing she had felt in her short life so far, and it fully captured her thoughts as they sat there on the tower. A guttural noise jolted her out of her emotional daze, it was the sound of Axel clearing his throat – symbolizing his readiness to begin his lecture. Xirena licked her lips with a look of determination on her face, as if she were _preparing_ herself to listen intently – getting her mind ready to absorb what he had to say. Would it work? Only time would tell...


	4. Spark The Soul

**A/N: Hello. Long time, no update. This chapter took forever for various reasons... Sorry 'bout that folks. Then I had to do some extensive editing of the entire story notes, which I might still have to keep doing. HOPEFULLY chapter 5 doesn't take as long, but anything could 3 Enjoy, homies.**

* * *

**Chapter IV: Spark The Soul**

_We'll take a long walk, down the alleys of these houses__  
__And we'll talk, see what conversation rouses when we're alone,__  
__When we're alone, it could be home_

_ Right. So, I'll try to keep it simple, but I'm not gonna lie to ya – it gets a little sticky at some points. Know what I mean? ...Xirena, what you and I are, we're Nobodies... And a Nobody is a being without a heart. Just a body and a mind. Remember those Heartless things I mentioned? When one of them steals a person's heart, they split into a Heartless and a Nobody. Heartless hold the hearts they steal within them... so, really our names are kind of backwards. Anyways, normal folk just turn into your run-of-the-mill dusk or something, but people with exceptionally strong hearts become Nobodies like us – ones that look and function like humans. Just without hearts, without emotions. And strong Nobodies like us have been rounded up by Xemnas to form our Organization... we have a goal, or rather Xemnas does really, but we can't exactly work on it directly right now. We need someone who can free the captive hearts within the Heartless, and that requires a special weapon. It's called a key-something-or-other, I don't know, it's not important. Anyway what it boils down to is by freeing the hearts within the Heartless, they'll form together and create something called Kingdom Hearts. And then..._

_And then?_

_Well. We only have his word to go by, but according to Xemnas by forming Kingdom Hearts, we will have hearts of our own once more._

* * *

"Are you listening, child?" A nasally voice snapped.

Xirena yelped, being smacked in the back of the head while she was verbally scolded. In all fairness, she wasn't listening, she was thinking about the night she had the day before.

"Sorry Mr. Vexen!" She quickly apologized, raising a hand to the back of her head and massaging the spot where he struck her. The wild-eyed, blonde scientist looked down on her with disdain, and Xirena shrunk into herself while averting her eyes in shame.

"Don't apologize, just pay attention." He instructed coldly.

A soft whimper escaped from Xirena as she straightened herself out. The tall man turned his back to her once more, intent on finishing what he started. You see, Vexen was tasked with teaching her how to use magic for combative purposes – given the nature of their "job" in the Organization, having skills in battle was a strict requirement – for their work, but also their own survival. In the past, those he taught had picked it up easily, but Xirena wasn't exactly a quick study. Although if she just put an _iota_ of effort into focusing on the task at hand, she could have made more progress than she had, but her mind kept wandering to other things. Things that were more fun to think about. Like Axel. And ice cream.

She could still recall the sweet taste of the ice cream as it melted on her tongue, quickly adding a salty flavor too. But the ice cream was hardly the most important thing... What he had told her were pretty heavy. She was confused over the "no heart" thing... if they couldn't feel emotions, why did she... feel? She may not have known any better but she sure felt full of all sorts of emotions the whole time she'd been at the castle. Just thinking about it made her head ache with confusion – a totally legit emotion, right? How could it not be real? She had questions that she wanted to ask Axel, but they didn't have the time and now today she wasn't sure how long she'd be at work trying to learn magic. Xirena is always excited and willing to learn new things – even if the attempt is unsuccessful it was always fun – but her thoughts wandering to Axel kept her distracted from the important lesson on magic.

_We should head back now really._

_Oh ok._

_...Hey, if you're not busy why don't you meet me here tomorrow after work again? We can chat more. If not, that's cool too. Up to you._

A smile swiftly crept across Xirena's face when she remembered that. She felt a strange amount of excitement over getting to just hang out and talk with Axel – she did that with Rex plenty, yet somehow it was different with Axel.

"And THIS is how you cast a basic fire spell!"

Vexen's loud voice grabbed Xirena again, after she zoned out... _again_. She saw a small flame erupt after Vexen swung his arm out in front of him onto a target dummy they had set up for the exercise. Once the flames faded away, the charred but still intact dummy was exposed. It was burned beyond recognition, but it didn't completely disappear... This all brought Xirena back to the moment where Axel had done the same thing in Agrabah, or at least... something similar. Somehow there seemed to be a difference in how Axel and Vexen handled fire. Vexen looked back to Xirena, who appeared just attentive enough to appease him. He was also just exhausted at this point by trying to teach her, someone he thought was a hopeless dimwit but still _had _to tutor. While everyone recognized Vexen's academic strengths, Vexen wouldn't allow anyone else to teach even if they wanted to. If someone was to be teaching, they should be learning from the best to receive the optimal learning experience. He simply would not stand for anyone else but him to take the position, he was too proud of his _supposed_ superior intellect.

"Oh ok, cool!" Xirena exclaimed after a delay.

She raised up her hands and began to clap at the marvelous display, a look of wonder on her face. Vexen's eyes narrowed – he did not find this action endearing at all, in fact he found it completely intolerable. With remarkable speed, he thrust one hand out and grabbed both of hers while they were close together, pinning them shut in his tight grip and effectively silencing her clapping. Xirena retained the look of awe she had on her face the whole time she clapped – Vexen's boiling irritation with her was lost on the purple haired girl.

"You can leave _now_." Vexen murmured, accentuating the final word of that sentence.

Xirena nodded and Vexen released her small hands. Once free, Xirena ran out of his lab with intense enthusiasm. She smiled broadly as she moved quickly through the castle. The steps she took were thoughtlessly careless, and the swing of her arms was broad and probably dangerous to anyone who would get in her way. But she wasn't concerned with that. Her feet carried her to the Gray Area where she excitedly looked around, but after a moment of keen observation, she realized that her target wasn't there. However, this did not put an end to her personal journey. Before she could move on, she spotted Rex waving to grab her attention from one of the couches, where he sat with legs crossed daintily.

"HON. Get over here! I haven't seen you since, like, yesterday morni-"

Rex's words were cut short by Xirena turning on her heel and running out without having taken Rex into consideration at all. Rex's jaw fell open – who was SHE to ignore him? With no reason even! He huffed loudly and crossed his arms tightly. Once he was over the initial shock of this "rejection" he started working his mind to try and figure out just what on earth she could even be doing instead of hanging out with him. Nothing came to mind.

* * *

Xirena's breath was heavy as she jogged up the stairs leading to the top of the tower in Twilight Town. Careful not to recklessly run now, she found a safe enough pace that would deliver herself to the top as soon as possible. Reaching the peak, she carefully rounded the corner to where she sat with Axel just the night before. The few seconds that it took for her to completely round the sharp corner and see the one-time hang out spot suddenly felt like eternity. Through the seemingly slowed time, Xirena's excited smile started to sink into utter disappointment.

Axel wasn't there.

Time resumed it's normal pace once the absence of the red head fully sunk in. Almost in time with her expression, Xirena's entire body sank into itself, assuming a posture of defeat.

"Oh... ok..." She murmured, voice full of sadness.

Xirena took in the view of the setting sun before preparing to depart, though the beautiful setting sun did nothing to lift her heavy heart. She took a step back, pivoting slowly with her head trailing behind the rest of her body as she craved to see every last bit of the golden sky of Twilight Town. When she could contort herself no further, Xirena whipped her head forward, only to be greeted by a strange wall of blackness. That certainly wasn't there before, and the sudden change of scenery left Xirena stunned and frozen.

"Up here." A familiar voice teased.

Xirena slowly raised her head – her red eyes meeting bright green ones above her. Standing just an inch away from her with an amused grin on his face was none other than Axel. Xirena stared up at him, mouth having fallen open in pure wonderment.

"...Oh hi!" She greeted brightly, after a pause of just staring. She tilted her head to the side and continued, "When did you get here?"

"I saw you heading up here so I decided to hang back a little and sneak up on ya." He explained, his voice taking on a sarcastic tone when he spoke again, "Didn't scare ya much though, did I?"

"No, not really." Xirena answered honestly with a steady shake of her head.

Axel scoffed lightly, darkly amused by her truthful words. He stepped around her, moving casually towards where he had sat just the night prior, taking his seat once again. Ghosting behind him, Xirena followed with light steps, plopping delicately down next to Axel on the ledge.

Feeling her presence next to him, Axel started chewing on the inside of his cheek, yet he chose to keep his eyes forward to the horizon. After a brief moment, his jaw relaxed. That cheek chewing was a bit of a bad habit.

"Y'know..." Axel spoke, grabbing Xirena's attention, "To be honest, I wasn't sure if you'd show up today."

Xirena had turned her head to face Axel, furrowing her brow so hard that she was in danger of breaking her nose.

"But you told me to!" Xirena countered honestly. Her brow to slowly started to relax, and Axel choked up. He wasn't quite expecting that.

"You make me sound like some sort of control freak weirdo when you put it _that_ way." Axel replied. He was beginning to worry that he started to sound like a creep... Not the best impression to make, so he calmly searched his brain for something better to say, "It was more of a... suggestion. Yeah, suggestion sounds better."

"Oh ok." The agreeable Xirena responded, "It still sounds the same to me though!"

"Right..." Axel murmured, feeling his short-lived recovery dissipate, "But seriously, you barely know me, but you met me here again without any hesitation!"

"Yeah!" She replied enthusiastically.

"Xirena, you're missing the point." He said frankly, "How'd ya know I wouldn't turn out to be some psycho killer who lures victims up here to murder them? Or that I wasn't a creepy pervert looking to prey on some young, innocent thing that doesn't know any better?"

Axel paused to allow his statements to sink in, but judging by the unchanged dumb smile on Xirena's face, his lecturing 'sank in' just about as good as jello on a ceramic plate. He groaned audibly.

"_What I'm saying_ is you can't go around trusting just ANYONE without question... You're a disaster waiting to happen." He explained, "A life without fear is a reckless life. Got it memorized?"

"I think so..." She half lied, "But what exactly is 'trust' ?"

This question was an unexpected addition to their chat.

"Well it's... having a strong belief in the reliability and truth of someone... or something. Having confidence in someone is to trust them." He explained shakily. A look of understanding slowly came across Xirena's face, which prompted Axel to continue, "It's kind of involved in human emotion stuff, so actually it's not really THAT important to us Nobodies."

Xirena exhaled heavily. This whole thing about them not having emotions or hearts, and Axel ending his explanation with a direct contradiction to things he said just moments earlier, left her mentally exhausted.

"I don't really understand...We don't have hearts or emotions..." She began softly, then the passion in her voice suddenly spiked, "But, I'm pretty sure I've been feeling plenty of stuff!"

Now that was an interesting declaration. The intensity of Xirena's last comment had caught Axel's full attention. Among the chorus of emotional naysayers that was the Organization, one small voice has popped up to challenge them. Axel's hand glided upwards to his face, where he started to stroke his chin with curiosity.

"Is that so..." The curious Axel murmured, "Care to explain?"

Xirena looked down at her lap as an inquisitive smile grew on Axel's face, like the moon finally appearing from behind the clouds on a gloomy night. Xirena scratched at her cheek lightly with her index finger as she thought. Once she was sure she recalled the most important or just memorable instances, she allowed her hand to fall softly back to her lap, and raised her head back up.

"Well... When I first got here I was really nervous, and then I was excited to meet Rex, and then I was scared of Vexen, and yesterday, I was really happy just hanging out up here with you!"

"Heh." He chuckled to himself, feeling his ego grow just a tiny bit for a second. This fleeting moment passed leading Axel back to the cold truth of their emotionless reality. His smile faded. He was always quick to talk himself back down on this topic, "Well, girlie, I hate to rain on your parade and all... but all that stuff you just said? Those things you felt weren't real. All fake."

Xirena's expression fell into disappointment, with a smidge of befuddlement. Her posture sank as well, caving into herself and making her look even smaller. Axel observed her crestfallen pose. This sad sight was too awkward and he suddenly felt the need to try and console the poor creature, but in her mopey world, Xirena was even less aware of herself and everything around her than usual. Thus, she didn't see nor anticipate the sudden impact she felt strike from behind. She let out a high pitched gasp as her head snapped up and over to Axel – he had clapped his hand on her shoulder as a gesture of reassurance.

"Listen, try not to think about that whole 'no heart or emotions' stuff," He began, looking into her vibrant eyes, "It makes living a whole lot easier for us... Got it memorized?"

"...Oh ok." Xirena replied, breath heavy from being startled by him.

The duo held their stare even after silence had taken over – the only sound being the high altitude wind blowing gently in their ears. While Xirena's eyes were almost eternally wide, Axel's were relaxed – narrowed, but still soft enough to convey a casual mood. After a moment, a sigh was heard from Axel, who smiled and turned away; he lazily pulled his hand back along with him.

"Heh, I just realized something... I should have gotten some ice cream before heading up here." He spoke. Xirena's eyes lit up.

"Oh, oh ice cream would have been great!" Xirena agreed excitedly, drawing a laugh out of Axel.

"Well who said I'd buy any for _you_?!" He exclaimed jokingly, laughing loudly at his own "joke."

Xirena, however, didn't see the humor and was rendered totally speechless and frozen, save for a quick and subtle tremble. It sure sounded like he was scolding her, and this disturbed Xirena's fragile state of being. Axel found this amusing, but tried to stop his unnecessarily raucous laughter since he could tell she was legitimately upset. Forcing himself to stop eventually lead to his laughing ceasing naturally – just needed a little push to get things straight again. Axel looked over to Xirena, seeing her watching him with a look of ghastly dread – so absurdly over the top that it almost sent him into another laughing fit. Even Axel has some good in him sometimes, and it was summoned in that moment because he couldn't let this poor girl go on thinking he really yelled at her.

"Xirena, I'm just messing with you!" He assured her.

Xirena heaved a huge sigh. She felt like she could faint from all the emotional energy she had expended in her state of dismay and despair. However, his affirmation immediately eased her soul. Axel boldly reached out and pet the girl on the head, ruffling up her hair a bit as he did so. Xirena couldn't help but giggle softly, almost inaudibly, as Axel pat her head. Something about seeing her goofy smile struck a chord inside the redhead, evident by the similar smile that had spread to his face too – a smile he didn't even notice. He slowly started to take his hand back – but instead of simply retracting it, his hand traveled from the top of her head and slid down the side with his fingers running through her hair. He wasn't close enough to have caressed her face or anything, but once his fingers were free from her purple locks, the realization of how... intimate that action was – _especially_ considering how he hadn't known Xirena for very long. He abruptly jerked his hand back towards him, having realized the weight of his actions. Axel's hand flew to the back of his head as he twisted his body to face forward again, scratching at it as he did so. Xirena thankfully – for Axel anyway – didn't understand his sudden change in demeanor. She merely tilted her head in confusion, as she often found herself doing.

"Axel?" Xirena asked.

Axel dropped his hand heavily and exhaled deeply; he cleared his throat before choosing to speak again.

"It's nothing... I just had a really bad itch is all." He lied, with absolutely zero confidence in his voice.

"Oh ok." Xirena replied, turning and facing forward again as well.

She was satisfied with his answer – despite it being weak... well, anyone else but Xirena would surely be able to tell it wasn't the exact truth and he'd end up being interrogated until the truth got dragged out of him. In that moment Axel was quite thankful that Xirena was... well, the way she was. Axel shook his head rapidly, trying to rid his mind of the creepy thing he had just done. He even shook out his hand a bit to try and remove any lingering personal embarrassment associated with it.

* * *

Coming home to the castle for Xirena was like returning home to an angry spouse. With arms crossed and foot tapping the floor of the gray area impatiently, Rex stood near the hallway entrance, waiting for his pet project to return. His foot struck the floor so hard it threatened to crack. When she appeared following Axel, Rex began to shake his head disapprovingly.

"I swear to Zayn..." He muttered bitterly, seeing how his friend was associating with someone that WASN'T him!

Xirena noticed him and waved enthusiastically at Rex. Rex, being in his own self absorbed world, thought that she was "pretending like nothing was wrong" – as if she had any idea about his delusional thoughts to begin with. With no idea about his annoyance, Xirena happily jogged over to the silver haired Nobody, visibly pleased to see him.

"Hiya Rex!" She says, stopping in front of him.

"Two nights now? Seriously?" He snapped. He didn't bother with pleasantries.

"Huh?" She asked, still smiling.

Rex could see Axel approaching them over Xirena's shoulder, which only irritated Rex further. He quickly grabbed Xirena and pulled her close.

"WHY are you hanging out with HIM?" He aggressively whispers to the clueless girl. He releases her with a light shove to get her out of his personal space, leading to Xirena stumbling a bit. Now willing to talk in a more audible tone, he continued, "I thought I TOLD you not to."

"Oh..." Xirena breathed, "Sorry Rex. But, Axel's really nice! I like him!"

Just as the last words escaped her mouth, one of Rex's arms flew up and put a finger up to her lips – to silence her... even though she had already said all she wanted to say. Rex couldn't let what he said next go interrupted _at all._

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that hon." He sharply says as his nostrils flare, "Being friends with a loser leads to you becoming a loser by association, and I have a reputation to keep up – I can NOT be seen with a loser. Sorry not sorry."

"Oh ok." She replied once Rex removed his hand from her face but she didn't really understand what he was going on about. It was too technical sounding for her to properly grasp.

"Seriously hon you got better things to do than follow his big, lumbering ass around."

"Yeah, standing right here y'know." Axel said from behind Xirena.

While the Swift Brawler was ranting and raving, Axel had reached the two and stood casually behind Xirena. Rex completely ignored the red head though, beckoning for Xirena to follow him. Rex began sashaying towards his room, yet Xirena was glued to her spot. With her back to him, Axel couldn't tell what was up with her – no expression to read or anything. Xirena, however, was fighting a war inside her mind. She of course liked chilling out with Rex, but she was eager to spend time with her newest acquaintance too. In her own words, Xirena could tell that Axel had different things to offer her than Rex did. However, she felt she had some sort of obligation to go with Rex that evening... perhaps it was his commanding nature. No. Yeah. It was totally his commanding nature. With all this in mind, she slowly turned in place and looked up at Axel.

"I gotta go with Rex now." She said, with a small trace of regret, or perhaps guilt,"Bye bye."

"Woah, hold on a sec!" He said to keep her in place, "Tomorrow, after work, same place?"

Xirena stared at him blankly.

"Huh?" She asked. Axel sighed.

"Wanna meet at the clock tower after work again tomorrow?" He clarified.

"Oh! Oh ok, yeah!" She responded gleefully.

An irritated shriek rang out from Rex and echoed down the hall, calling Xirena's name and telling her to hurry up. The frenzied Xirena squeaked as the shrill command pierced her ears; she clumsily turned and started jogging after Rex. Axel smiled – perhaps more devilishly than he intended – as he watched Xirena from behind, getting farther and farther away with each delicate step; her light gait made it look as if she was walking on air. The pair of Rex and Xirena soon disappeared into the fabulous one's room to do god knows what... whatever girls do, like painting their nails and read Tiger Beat is what Axel assumed.

Yet for some reason...

A twinge of something... a brief flare of bittersweet thoughts as she ran away. Just like Xirena had said she enjoyed her time with him, Axel – if asked – would say the same for her.


End file.
